6 Israelis Die in Gaza Attack

Palestinian militants set off a massive explosion late Thursday at a commercial crossing into the Gaza Strip and then opened fire on civilian workers, killing six Israelis and wounding five others in the deadliest attack since Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian Authority on Sunday.

The assault took place about 11 p.m. at the Karni crossing, a busy portal between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The army said a bomb was detonated at the crossing and that three Palestinian fighters then charged the terminal, spraying gunfire.

The three Palestinians were killed in a subsequent shootout with soldiers, the army said.

Three Palestinian groups claimed joint responsibility: the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Popular Resistance Committees and the military wing of Hamas. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is loosely affiliated with Abbas’ Fatah movement, said that more than 200 pounds of explosives were detonated.

Early today, an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at a medical center run by a charity linked to the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Deir al Balah refugee camp in Gaza, Palestinian officials said. A passerby suffered minor injuries.

Karni, which is the main opening for moving produce, building materials and other merchandise into and out of Gaza, is run by a civilian port authority. The attack took place shortly before the crossing was to close for the night. Israel recently began keeping the crossing open later to ease the passage of goods.

A blast near the site last month killed an Israeli soldier.

The latest assault came hours after Abbas, who has called for an end to violent struggle against Israel, said he was ready to meet Palestinian security commitments under the U.S.-backed diplomatic initiative known as the road map. The plan calls upon the Palestinian leadership to rein in militants and reform a chaotic assortment of security forces.

“As you know, this plan starts with security commitments and eventually deals with the final status issues, like borders and Jerusalem,” Abbas told a group of Christian leaders. “We are ready to implement our commitments. We hope the Israeli side will do the same.”

There was no immediate reaction to the attack from Palestinian leaders.

A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the latest episode of violence would not affect plans for a meeting between the two leaders. The session has not been scheduled.

But the spokesman, Raanan Gissin, said the attack highlighted the need for the new Palestinian government to take action against the militants before any reconciliation could take place.

“Until real steps are taken to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, there can be no progress toward a negotiated settlement,” Gissin said. “I dread very much that what began as a new start for the Palestinians is going to end up with this kind of action, with no action by the Palestinians.”

The attack appeared to reflect the determination of Palestinian guerrillas to carry out armed operations despite Abbas’ calls to hold fire. Confronting the militants may be the most difficult task facing him.

Abbas hopes to persuade the fighters to join in a cease-fire aimed at halting more than four years of bloody uprising by the Palestinians. But the militants have insisted on their right to carry on their fight against Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza.

On Wednesday, Islamic militants killed a Jewish settler and wounded three Israeli soldiers with a roadside bomb in another part of the coastal strip.

A spokesman for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade said Thursday’s attack was not aimed at sending a message to Abbas.

“It’s a message for the Israeli Zionist enemy,” said the spokesman, who is known as Abu Qusay. “As long as the Israeli occupation is occupying our land, we will continue fighting.”

Sharon plans to remove Jewish residents and soldiers from Gaza this year, a pullout that is bitterly opposed by the settlers and their right-wing allies in Israel. Since Sharon outlined the plan, Gaza has been rocked by bouts of intense back-and-forth violence as the fighters seek to portray the withdrawal as a military victory and Israel attempts to show it is not being driven out.

Earlier Thursday, a Hamas leader in the West Bank said the group was open to ending hostilities with Israel.

“Hamas doesn’t want to eliminate Israel. Hamas is a realistic political movement,” the leader, Sheik Hassan Yousef, told Associated Press. “There is a thing called Jews and a thing called Israel, and we deal with this reality.”

*

Special correspondent Rushdie abu Alouf in Gaza City contributed to this report.